He was found lying on his front, his head twisted to the side. An arm bent above his head while the other remained straight at his side. As he lay entrenched in the mud of London’s Thames river, unknown to the world for almost 500 years, his clothes decayed and washed away.

Except his thigh-high boots.

Archaelogists say they discovered the medieval skeleton still wearing his boots, while working on the Thames Tideway tunnel, a project to update the city’s sewage network.

“It’s extremely rare to find any boots from the late 15th century, let alone a skeleton still wearing them,” Beth Richardson of the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) told National Geographic.

The boots made from leather and stitched with flax thread, extending up to the knee, suggest that the man was a river worker, and used the boots as waders.MOLA

While archaeologists say it’s not unusual to find old artefacts turn up on the rivershore, the style and wear of the boots made the find all the more unusual. The boots were made of leather, stitched with wax flax thread, unheeled, with a single, flat sole reinforced with “clump soles” at the front and back.

“But what is unusual about these boots is that we never find high boots like this – they are always shoes or ankle boots,” Richardson added. “High boots are just not very common throughout medieval times, and actually [during] Tudor times and the 17th century as well. If you look at pictures or illuminated manuscripts or portraits, very few people are wearing boots.”

The length of the boot suggests that the man probably worked in or around the river as a dock worker, fisherman or sailor, using the boots as waders. Mariners of the time were known to wear long boots, explained Richardson.

Distinctive grooves in the man’s teeth, who was believed to have died when he was 35 years old, also supports this theory. It’s a ‘possible indication of pulling some sort of material over the biting surface of the teeth or holding an object in the teeth for prolonged periods of time,” Niamh Carty, an osteologist, told the Guardian.

Distinctive grooves in the man’s teeth suggest a repetitive action, the passing of some object (a rope perhaps) through his teeth making it more likely that he worked in or around the river.MOLA

There is also evidence of extensive degenerative joint disease along his spine and left hip joint that showed he lived a physical life and suffered pain every day, she added.

The theory also explains why the boots have been so well-preserved after all these years. “While cellulosic fabrics such as linen tend to decay in waterlogged areas, protein-based garments like wool and especially leather survive anaerobic damp conditions much better,” Davidson said.

“The tanning process makes leather even more durable, and if his boots were for working in the water they may have had extra protection like oils, fats, pitch or resin worked into the hide which has helped them last for 500 years — better than his skin.”

‘The skeleton was uncovered during the construction of a shaft at Chambers Wharf, where one of the main tunnel boring machines digging the super sewer is due to start tunneling later next year,’ reads the description of the tunnel where the skeleton was discovered.MOLA

The presence of the boots also suggests something more sinister — that the death wasn’t peaceful or maybe even intentional.

MOLA Headland, whose archaelogists discovered the skeleton noted that leather was a highly prized material at the time, often reused and recycled. So, had he been buried by his loved ones, it’s likely they would have removed his boots for re-use.

It’s possible that his death was tragic, either accidental, suicide or even murder. However, archaelogists says there is no sign of foul play.

“He may have been working in the river and the tide got too much for him, he may have fallen over, he may have been tired,” Richardson said. “He may have had too much to drink. We really don’t know.”